Theme of An Old Man’s Winter Night

The main theme used by Frost in this poem is one of isolation and
oblivion. From the title of this poem, the reader might expect a warm and
cozy narrative about an old man in front of a crackling fire. Frost denies this
comforting expectation and instead creates a haunting narrative — one of
the darkest works in his 1916 “Mountain Interval” – that describes an old
man slowly dying alone during a harsh New England winter.
An old man stands alone in his house in the middle of winter. Because of
his age, he does not remember why he is in the house or even his identity,
but he maintains his presence against the grueling winter outside. At one
point, he becomes frightened by the cellar beneath his feet and the dark
night outside, and he stomps his feet loudly to frighten away the unknown.
Eventually the old man dozes in front of the fire and, after being disturbed
by a shifting log, falls into a deeper sleep.
The poem never clarifies the reason why the old man is alone, only
reiterating that he is completely isolated and beyond the comfort of
companionship. The most terrifying element of this poem is the old man’s
loss of memory; he has no recollection of his purpose or identity and simply
finds himself standing “with barrels round him – at a loss.” Not only is the
old man isolated in body, he is isolated in mind: even the memories of past
happiness cannot comfort him.
By rendering the old man mute, Frost strives to instill the readers with the
same sense of isolation that the old man himself experiences. If the poem
included glimpses of the old man’s inner thoughts, the readers would feel a
sense of kinship with him, even a degree of companionship. As it is,
however, the reader is forced to remain a silent observer who cannot
connect to the inner workings of the old man’s mind.